By Bruce D.Murdy

Perception:

Mary Ann is 58 years old, has been buying the same brand of mayonnaise since 1971, and lives to take care of her husband and children.

Reality:

Mary Ann is at the epicenter of the most vibrant, intelligent, influential and largest consumer group in the world—baby boomer women.

There are more than 70 million baby boomers in America today, and half of them are women. These women are not the stereotypes we see on TV Land reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Leave it to Beaver, though. These women are the greatest opportunity for marketers, if they take advantage of it.

Women control 85% of household spending, equating to more than $3.5 trillion annually. They’re making 90% of travel decisions and 80% of health care decisions. Women are buying 50% of all cars, influencing 80% of total car sales, starting their own businesses at twice the rate of men, and running 40% of households with assets of more than $600,000.

Now, take a closer look at boomer women. There are 38 million boomer women in America. Consider that, on average, baby boomer women will be widowed by age 67 and will most likely survive their husband by 15 to 18 years (gruesome, but statistically true), and that makes them even more interesting. So, we’re looking at the youngest, healthiest, wealthiest, best-educated and most ambitious group of pre-retirees and retirees ever.

So, what should we as marketers do?

First, recognize that boomer women are not a homogenous group. Younger boomer women, in their mid-40s to early 50s, still have responsibilities to husbands, families and jobs. However, “leading edge” women, boomers in their mid-50s to mid-60s, have different attitudes. They’re ready to experience new things, and are looking for straight talk, not hype in the advertising messages we send to them.

Women don’t want to feel the “sell” coming on, nor do they want to be talked down to. There is still a lot of sexism and ageism that pervades the advertising and sales processes currently. Whether it’s a condescending 20-something talking down to a woman buying a high tech device, or an old-line salesperson talking to “the man of the house,” we as marketers must recognize who really holds the purse strings in the greatest opportunity market we have.

Market transparently and honestly. Be authentic and real in what you say and how you say it, whether in an ad or in person. For example, I love the new vacuum from Hoover. It’s called the “Empower” vacuum. They’re not selling more suction, they’re selling more power, so women can get out of the house faster and start doing what they really want to do.

Understand women’s online shopping habits. There are more women on the Web today than there are men. Women do more researching, more browsing and more comparison-shopping than men do when considering an online purchase. Make sure your Web site is catering to boomer women by giving them the information and tools to do this better than before.

You can have an edge, once you start to believe that the baby boomer females are not the stereotypical women of a generation ago. They’re different than their mothers were at this point in life; so don’t rely on those old beliefs. Believe as they do that today, being 50 is the new 40. These women are vibrant, active and have a lot more money than many of us. They’ve seen modern culture change a lot for them, and they have adapted. As marketers, the sooner we adapt to the new reality, the sooner we’ll reap the rewards.

Bruce D. Murdy (bmurdy@rawle-murdy.com) is president of Rawle-Murdy Associates, Inc., a Charleston-based ­marketing, advertising and public relations firm.

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